1850. 



THE GENESEE FARMER. 



119 



liiiitinilliinil |jr|jiiiiinriit. 



BDITED nr p. BARRT. 



• HINTS ON THE MANAGEMENT OF TREES. 



The planting of trees will now be finished, In most 

 parts of the country. Presuming that this has been 

 well done — that the ground was well prepared, the 

 roots and tops judiciously pruned, and due puins taken 

 to place the tree in such a condition in its new situ- 

 ation as to give a rea^mable hope of Its success — 

 planters will jjrobably cuns^ider the work done, and 

 leave the trees to themselves for the summer ; but 

 this will not do. Every 'tree that has been planted 

 this spring or last fall, should be examined. The 

 frosts may have drawn them out of the ground ; the 

 earth may be settled so as to leave the roots exposed ; 

 the wind may have blown them out of their upright 

 position, and left a crevice around the base for the 

 air to penetrate ; the earth may have become baked 

 and cracked : and so on. Under any or all of these 

 circumstances, immediate attention is necessary. — 

 The growing season has commenced, and it is Wghly 

 necessary, if we wish trees to prosper, to put them 

 in such a condition that they can make the best of It. 

 If stakes be necessary, they should be provided at 

 once, and the trees be carefully tied to them. In all 

 orchard planting, when trees are exposed and exceed 

 four feet in height, stakes or supports are essential. 

 The ground should be frequently stirred to keep it 

 loisse and fine, and when it has settled away from 

 the roots, it should be drawn carefully up to them. 

 Mulching is a great safeguard In oyr dry climate ; 

 indeed, every tree should be kept mulched for the first 

 year : that is, the ground should bo covered about 

 the tree, as far as the roots extend, and a foot beyond, 

 with litter or manure, to the de|)tli of several inches. 

 It preserves the moisture of the soil, and an even tem- 

 perature, that greatly modifies the scorching influ- 

 ence of our hot sun, and facilitate the growth of new 

 roots. We speak from abimdant exjierience on this 

 subject, and might quote pages of instances of the 

 good etiects It has produced ; besid", it is actually a 

 saving cf labor; because, without mulching, the 

 ground about the trees. If we wish to sec them live 

 and grow, must be kept clean and mellow. Mulch- 

 ing prevents the necessity of this, as it keeps down 

 weeils and prevents the possijility of the ground 

 baking or cracking. Mulch your trees, then, by all 

 means, and do it soon — do it at once. If a severe 

 drouth sho\ild ensue, newlv planted trees in dry soils 

 may require watering. This will be easily ascer- 

 tained by the flagging and languishing of the young 



shoots. In such cases, the mulching and a couple 

 of inches of soil shoidd be removed, and a liberal 

 supply of water bo furnished ; a pailful or two to a 

 young tree is little enough to do any good ; indeed, 

 it should be poured in slowly until the ground for* 

 some distance from the tree is thoroughly saturated, 

 and will contain no more ; then replace the earth and 

 mulching, and that will In nearly all cases be suffi- 

 cient to carry the tree out of danger from drouth. 



We are thus particular on this point, because we 

 hear so much said continually about trees dying In 

 dry weather, when a little care of this sort vvoulil 

 have saved them and insured their prosperity. It is 

 really shameful that people should purchase good 

 trees, take pains in preparing their ground and in 

 planting, and then for the want of a little watching 

 and care afterwards, let them die, and throw the blame 

 upon the nurseryman, or the planter, or some one else 

 who had nothing to do with the cause of their failure. 



Another point should be noted in tlie case of newly 

 planted trees. If circumstances connected with the 

 weather, the soil, or the time of planting be unfavor- 

 able, you may have left too much of head or side 

 branches on your trees, the growth of the top may 

 not be seconded or aided by the roots sufficiently, and 

 the tree will either stand still or flag and die. In 

 such cases, the remedy, in addition to that already 

 alluded to, will be culling back closer, tlius reducing 

 the growing siu'face and lessing the demand upon 

 the roots. We have often liad to cut back closer 

 than we wished, to make the tree start vigorously. 

 Last season we planted some pear trees in a damaged 

 state, apparently quite hopeless cases, all dried and 

 shriveled up. Some we pruned every branch olT the 

 stem, leaving only one eye at the base of each, to 

 make a new branch. Others we cut stem and all 

 ofl' within a foot of the ground. Nearly all lived ; 

 but while the former made but an inch or two of 

 growth of young branches, the latter threw up numer- 

 ous strong branches from a foot to two feet in length, 

 and in the autumn were much the handsomest and 

 best trees — better rooted, and every way superior. 



It is difficult to persuade our impatient planters 

 into a proper system of reducing the heads of their 

 trees. They will search the country over for large 

 trees — "the larger the better" — and then they will 

 not remove an inch of their wood ; that woftld be 

 directly op])nsed to their principle — their motto, "the 

 larger the better." Experience, however, will rem- 

 edy this ; but it will be dearly bought in many cases. 

 The experienced cultivator, when he goes to purcha-^o 

 trees, or select them for planting, will endeavbr to 

 procure first rate sorts: and Instead of looking merely 

 at the height of the trees, will see that they have 

 Ihrifly, stout bodies, mid good roots ; the mere mat- 

 ter of height is of no Importance to him, if everything 

 else be right. The inexperienced, as a general thing, 

 will cast his eye around for the tallest tree, and have 

 that if he can, regarding all the other considerations 

 of minor importance. What a mistake he makes ! 



The numerous and frequent attacks of insects 

 require continual watching too, during all the grow- 

 ing season. As soon as the leaves are expanded, 

 they are liable to suffer from leaf-rollers, aphis, slugs, 

 caterpillars, and a multitude of leaf-devouring bugs 

 and beetles. Everything that affects the foliage 

 Injuriously, should be carefully guarded against. 

 The horticulturist who wishes to be successful, must 

 wage an unceasing warfare against insects. 



We ought to have remarked, whje treating of 



